HARRISONBURG, Va. – High Point volleyball returned to action at the JMU Invitational on Saturday afternoon with a four-set battle against the UMBC Retrievers. Picking up the first win of the season, the Panthers pushed past the Retrievers with a 3-1 victory.
"It feels good to get a win," head coach
Ryan Meek commented. "We battled all match and found ways to score points with our serve, our block and our arms. UMBC shut down a lot of things we like to do offensively and we had to battle through that and find different patterns to win. I'm really proud of our team for pulling out the win."
Site: Convocation Center
Score: High Point 3, UMBC 1
Records: High Point (1-1), UMBC (1-1)
After a slow start in the opening set, the Panthers got things rolling through the final three. As a team, High Point lead the day in service aces (5-4) and blocks (14-4) making up the difference for UMBC out hitting the Panthers (59-46).
High Point witnessed a strong presence from two freshman on the front line.Outside hitter
Kennedy Louisell had a season-high nine kills and two block assists (.350 hit %) and middle blocker
Eve Wilson put down five kills and a game-high seven block assists.
The Panthers trailed through 70% of the second set. Down 19-15, two solid kills from Louisell and
BayLea Sparks closed the gap to just two points. The back-to-back hits were a game changer for HPU, as the pressure started to get to the Retrievers, resulting in four straight attack errors to put the Panthers back on top. Maberry closed out the second set with two kills to gain the 25-23 win.
The win in set two set the tone for the rest of the match, as High Point only allowed UMBC to take the lead on four occasions. The Retrievers took a 9-7 advantage in the third set but short lived, the Panthers trekked on a 6-0 run to go up 13-9. HPU powered through to get their second set win of the day, 25-19.
Set four was another close one as the teams exchanged points back-and-forth with 13 ties before the 25th point. It was not until the 20-20 mark that HPU decided to take care of business with three perfect sets from
Allie Gray to
Christine Graf to seal the deal.
UP NEXT: The Panthers play their final game of the JMU Invitational on Sunday, August 27 at Convocation Center. High Point and Ohio will kick-off at 11:30am.
#GoHPU
